Memories in electronic devices are vulnerable to errors. For example, electrical or magnetic interference may cause data bits stored within a memory to unintentionally change states. To mitigate such data errors, error protection bits may be stored in a memory in addition to data. A memory controller can use the error protection bits to detect and correct data errors. Examples of error protection bits include error checking and correcting (ECC) codes.
An ECC code can be used for detecting and correcting of up to a specified number of bits (e.g. one-bit error, two-bit error, etc.), If a data error involves an error in more than the specified number of bits, then the ECC code would not be useable to correct the data error, and a fault condition would be indicated.